This is the first sight I found on the internet, probably 1996 or before, probably haven't been back since. What a surprise to find you here Chad.

WRT the price of string material I think it's important to notice the relatively small amount, and small difference between the two. With FastFlight you get twice as much material per pound (FF 8900', B50 4200'), because it's that might lighter. This should be your first tipoff to why people prefer it. Twice as strong (97# versus 47#), 1/2 as heavy. If FF is $32 a 1/4# and B50 is 8$ then the price per string (12 strands of 6' each) is 25 cents. ($32/8900'*72') A similar B50 string is 12 cents cheaper, at 13 cents cost.

When you compare the price for finished strings, which I honestly had no idea any more so I had to look, you have to take into account the string makers costs for a variety of material on hand, as well as time investested. But for 33% more, or $4 in real terms, and in comparision to the price we pay for the all other components, and their relative utility, FastFlight is still a good value. I wish I could get as many shots from my arrows and gloves, as I do from my FF strnigs. Which really makes a lot of sense when you think about it. They are routinely made to twice the capacity as are B50, and equally undertaxed.

Its simply a matter of preference, barring of course those bows which ought not be used with FF. I get the difference shot feel, B50 simply slowed down, lower frequency but longer duration aftershock.

He David--glad you came back!

You make a great point, that I didn't even think about--a lot more material to a spool.....and my gloves cost more and don't last nearly as long.

Chad

First came here hunting muzzle loader stuff, and that's what brought me back around. Seems like at that time there was fella Marc maybe, up Northeast way, spent a lot of time on the trad archery board. Seems like that was during Mike Fedora Jr hay-day, before the dust up.

Well I expect you realize better than most my post kinda simplies things a little. I know a I paid a lot more for 450+ than FF, for example, and not sure how much material per spool. And since the expertise required to make a good string is obviously what we pay for, the cost of the material is not really as relevant. But I also like to be true to the details. And I never considered the cost of the string, even a ready made one for $20 or $25, to be sufficient justification to leave all the benefits of HMPE stuff on the table.

It's funny. Based upon my experiences as a half-assed hobby bowyer/selfbowyer, were that same "few fps," and shot feel for that matter, decided by the bow design and crafting itself, versus the string, then the price difference would not be $4, or even $40. Imho one could argue more tlike $400. Kinda ironic.

No surprise "professional" bowyers frequently hire out having their strings made.

Alright, I've come as close as I care to anymore, to being belligerent about this issue.

Once again you turn on a light bulb. I'm often amazed at some very nice (and often very expensive) bows that have a very...basic string on them. Not always but often the string can make a big difference in the feel, and some difference in the performance. Noise can be a huge difference. I wonder how many bows have been sold/traded when all they needed was a decent string on them.